black attorney who prosecuted oj simpson

by Garfield Nader 5 min read

What glove did Fuhrman find?

In a walk around the premises to inspect what may have caused the thumps, Fuhrman discovered a blood-stained right-hand glove, which was determined to be the mate of the left-hand glo ve found next to the body of Goldman. This evidence was determined to be probable cause to issue an arrest warrant for Simpson.

When was the blood on the back gate of the Bundy crime scene?

The defense alleged that Simpson's blood on the back gate at the Bundy crime scene was planted by the police. The blood on the back gate was collected on July 3, 1995, rather than June 13, the day after the murders. The volume of DNA on that blood was significantly higher than the other blood evidence collected on June 13. The volume of DNA was so high that the defense conceded that it could not be explained by contamination in the lab, yet noted that it was unusual for that blood to have more DNA on it than the other samples collected at the crime scene, especially since it had been left exposed to the elements for several weeks and after the crime scene had supposedly been washed over. On March 20, 1995, Vannatter testified that he instructed Fung to collect the blood on the gate on June 13 and Fung admitted he had not done so. The defense suggested the reason why Fung did not collect the blood is because it was not there that day; Scheck showed a blown-up photograph taken of the back gate on June 13 and he admitted he could not see it in the photograph.

Why are DNA tests not reliable?

Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld argued that the results from the DNA testing were not reliable because the police were "sloppy" in collecting and preserving it from the crime scene. Fung and Mazzola did admit to making several mistakes during evidence collection which included not always changing gloves between handling evidence items, packaging and storing the evidence items using plastic bags, rather than paper bags as recommended, and storing them in the police van, which was not refrigerated, for up to seven hours after collection. This, they argued, would allow bacteria to degrade all of the "real killer (s)" DNA and thus make the samples more susceptible to cross-contamination in the LAPD crime lab.

What is the book if I did it about?

In November 2006, ReganBooks announced a book ghostwritten by Pablo Fenjves based on interviews with Simpson titled If I Did It, an account which the publisher said was a hypothetical confession. The book's release was planned to coincide with a Fox special featuring Simpson. "This is a historic case, and I consider this his confession," publisher Judith Regan told the Associated Press. On November 20, News Corporation, parent company of ReganBooks and Fox, canceled both the book and the TV interview due to a high level of public criticism. CEO Rupert Murdoch, speaking at a press conference, stated: "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project."

What was the defense team's reasonable doubt theory?

The defense team's reasonable doubt theory was summarized as "compromised, contaminated, corrupted" in opening statements. They argued that the DNA evidence against Simpson was "compromised" by the mishandling of criminalists Dennis Fung and Andrea Mazzola during the collection phase of evidence gathering, and that 100% of the "real killer (s)" DNA had vanished from the evidence samples. The evidence was then "contaminated" in the LAPD crime lab by criminalist Collin Yamauchi, and Simpson's DNA from his reference vial was transferred to all but three exhibits. The remaining three exhibits were planted by the police and thus "corrupted" by police fraud. The defense also questioned the timeline, claiming the murders happened around 11:00pm that night.

How many women were on the jury in the trial of the murder of the slain man?

From an original jury pool of 40 percent white, 28 percent black, 17 percent Hispanic, and 15 percent Asian, the final jury for the trial had ten women and two men, of whom nine were black, two white and one Hispanic. The jury was sequestered for 265 days, the most in American history.

Did the police plant blood in the Bronco?

Barry Scheck alleged the police had twice planted the victims' blood inside Simpson's Bronco. An initial collection was made on June 13; the defense accused Vannatter of planting the victims' blood in the Bronco when he returned to Simpson's home later that evening. The prosecution responded that the Bronco had already been impounded by the time Vannatter returned and was not even at Rockingham.

How many African Americans were eliminated from the jury?

The prosecution eliminated eight African American potential jurors and two whites from the 39 people who appeared in court today. The defense excused two African Americans, five whites, one Hispanic and two Native Americans. Each side accused the other of racial bias, appealing to Ito to refuse certain challenges.

Who was the guy who covered Nicole Brown Simpson's face?

After Ito quickly swore them in, one juror, a Hispanic 38-year-old letter carrier, covered her face and then blinked her eyes rapidly as if in shock. Simpson, 47, faces first-degree murder charges in the June 12 slashing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald L. Goldman.

What is crime control advocate?

By presuming the factual guilt of a suspect, the. crime control advocate expresses confidence in the criminal justice. system in that, regardless of occasional human error or bias, only the. truly guilty remain in the system through conviction. In contrast, the due process advocate questions the reliability of.

Where does the analogy come from?

analogy comes from Lord Sankey in the 1935 case of Woolmington v. DPP, (1935) A.C. 42 , 44, in which he repudiated instructions that jurors are to presume malice from the. mere fact of killing: "one golden thread is always to be seen: that it is the duty of the. prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt.".

What did the Rodney King beating symbolize?

Even in 1995 it wasn't news to me that black men were being wrongfully harmed and killed by police officers — that the Rodney King beating symbolized the other less heralded cases of police brutality that had not been captured on videotape.

What issues did the Simpson trial raise?

The trial raised many issues: racism, celebrity, domestic violence, media coverage of criminal cases.

How much was the book Without a Doubt written by Teresa Carpenter worth?

She and Teresa Carpenter wrote a book about the Simpson case, Without a Doubt, in a deal reported to be worth $4.2 million. Since the Simpson trial, Clark has made numerous appearances on television, including being a "special correspondent" for Entertainment Tonight.

Who was Gordon Clark's second husband?

Horowitz was briefly in the news after he sold topless photos of Clark to the National Enquirer during the O. J. Simpson trial. In 1980, Clark married her second husband, Gordon Clark, a computer programmer and systems administrator who was employed at the Church of Scientology.

Who played Sidney Barnes in Pretty Little Liars?

In 2015, Clark was parodied on the sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt in the form of the character "Marcia", implied to be Marcia Clark, now in a relationship with "Chris" Darden, portrayed by Tina Fey.

Who was the woman who killed Rebecca Schaeffer?

Prior to this trial, Clark's highest-profile prosecution was in 1991, when she prosecuted Robert John Bardo for the murder of television star Rebecca Schaeffer. Clark said that the media attention she received during the trial was "the hell of the trial", calling herself "famous in a way that was kind of terrifying".

Who mentored the prosecutor of Los Angeles County?

She worked as a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, California, and was mentored by prosecutor Harvey Giss.

Is Guilt by Association a TV show?

Guilt by Association was adapted as a television pilot for TNT in 2014. In contrast, Clark's "Samantha Brinkman" series features a woman who is a defense attorney. It includes Blood Defense (2016), Moral Defense (2016), and Snap Judgment (2017), and is being adapted into a TV series for NBC, co-written by Clark.

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Overview

The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court in which former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor O. J. Simpson was tried and acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The pair were stabbed to death outside Brown's condominium in the Brentwoodneighborhood of Los Angeles on the night of June 12, 1994. The t…

Background

Nicole Brown met O.J. Simpson in 1977, when she was 18 and working as a waitress at the Daisy (a Beverly Hillsprivate club), and they began dating even though Simpson was already married. Simpson filed for divorce from his first wife in March 1979 and married Brown on February 2, 1985. Brown and Simpson went on to have two children, Sydney (b. 1985) and Justin (b. 1988). Accordin…

Murders

On the evening of June 12, 1994, Brown and Simpson both attended their daughter Sydney's dance recital at Paul Revere Middle School. Afterwards, Brown and her family went to eat at Mezzaluna restaurant; they did not invite Simpson to join them. One of the waiters at the restaurant was Ron Goldman, who had become close friends with Brown in recent weeks, but was not assigned to the Brown family's table. Brown and her children then went to Ben & Jerry'sbefor…

Flight to Chicago

On the night of June 12, Simpson was scheduled to board a red-eye flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Chicago, where he was due to play golf the following day at a convention with representatives of Hertz rental car Corporation, for whom he was a spokesman. The flight was due to leave at 11:45 pm, and a limousinearrived early at Simpson's Rockingham estate to pick him up at arou…

Arrest

After learning that Brown was the female victim, LAPD commander Keith Bushey ordered detectives Tom Lange, Philip Vannatter, Ron Phillips and Mark Fuhrmanto notify Simpson of her death and to escort him to the police station to pick up the former couple's children, who were asleep in Brown's condominium at the time of the murders. The detectives buzzed the intercom …

Preliminary hearing

On June 20, Simpson was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to both murders and was held without bail. The following day, a grand jury was called to determine whether to indict him for the two murders but was dismissed on June 23, as a result of excessive media coverage that could have influenced its neutrality. Instead, authorities held a probable cause hearing to determine whether to bring Simpson to trial. California Superior CourtJudge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell ruled on July …

Media coverage

When the trial began, all of the networks were getting these hate-mail letters because people's soap operas were being interrupted for the Simpson trial. But then what happened was the people who liked soap operas got addicted to the Simpson trial. And they got really upset when the Simpson trial was over, and people would come up to me on the street and say, 'God, I loved your show.'— …

Trial

Simpson wanted a speedy trial, and the defense and prosecuting attorneys worked around the clock for several months to prepare their cases. The trial began on January 24, 1995, seven months after the murders, and was televised by closed-circuit TV camera via Court TV, and in part by other cable and network news outlets, for 134 days. Judge Lance Ito presided over the trial in the C.S. Fo…